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Archive for November, 2013
Tar Sands Industry Eyes Great Lakes for Cheap Shipping
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on November 22nd, 2013
EcoWatch: As tar sands extraction continues and proposals for expanded pipelines from Canada into the U.S. form a backdrop, the Great Lakes themselves could become the next frontier for moving crude oil to a vast Midwest refinery network.
The region faces a critical choice about whether the Great Lakes should become a thoroughfare for tar sands crude shipping, a new report from Alliance for the Great Lakes warns. The report, Oil and Water: Tar Sands Crude Shipping Meets Great Lakes?, finds that neither...
Wyoming’s Strong Fracking Rules May Be a Model
Posted by New York Times: KATE GALBRAITH on November 22nd, 2013
New York Times: In energy-friendly Wyoming, oil and gas companies are getting a clear message: Drill, baby, drill — but carefully. Last week, state regulators approved one of the nation’s strongest requirements for testing water wells near drilling sites. The measure is intended to address concerns that groundwater can become contaminated from drilling activities. It is the latest of several groundbreaking regulations related to energy production issued by Wyoming, which in 2010 became the first state to require...
Working Around Keystone XL, Suncor Energy Steps Up Oil Production in Canada
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 22nd, 2013
New York Times: Suncor Energy, Canada's top petroleum producer, announced on Thursday that it would expand its oil production in 2014 by 10 percent in another sign that the Obama administration's delay in approving the Keystone XL pipeline extension is not holding back growth in the western Canadian oil sands fields.
"We're set for a strong year of continued production," Suncor's chief executive, Steven W. Williams, said. The company announced a capital spending program of $7.45 billion for 2014, $477 million...
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Comments Off on Working Around Keystone XL, Suncor Energy Steps Up Oil Production in CanadaThese Members of Congress Are Bankrolled by the Fracking Industry
Posted by Mother Jones: Molly Redden on November 21st, 2013
Mother Jones: The growing fracking industry is "yielding gushers" of campaign donations for congressional candidates--particularly Republicans from districts with fracking activity--according to a new report from the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
The report, "Natural Cash: How the Fracking Industry Fuels Congress," examines a period spanning from 2004 to 2012. In that time, CREW finds, contributions from companies that operate hydraulic fracturing wells and fracking-related...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on These Members of Congress Are Bankrolled by the Fracking IndustryHouse Approves Bill to Fast Track Fracking on Public Lands
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on November 21st, 2013
EcoWatch: By a vote of 235-187, the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday approved its latest giveaway to the oil and gas industry--a bill that would fast track the approval of fracking on public lands, according to Environment America.
The bill approved yesterday is one of three anit-environmental, pro-industry bills expected to pass the Republican controlled House of Representatives this week.
“Fracking is already wreaking havoc on our environment and health," said Environment America’s Federal Clean...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on House Approves Bill to Fast Track Fracking on Public LandsWorld food security at risk as crop yields plateau
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 21st, 2013
Reuters: For the last decade and a half, a mysterious and worrisome trend has emerged in the farming world that has sent farmers, scientists and policy makers looking for answers.
Crop yields -- how much of a crop is harvested per hectare -- for some of the world's major grains like rice, wheat and corn have gone from increasing year after year to plateauing in many of the world's biggest grain producers.
Until about the middle of the 20th century, the only way farmers knew to increase production...
Fracking without freshwater at west Texas oilfield
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 21st, 2013
Reuters: At a dusty Texas oilfield, Apache Corp has eliminated its reliance on what arguably could be the biggest long-term constraint for fracking wells in the arid western United States: scarce freshwater.
For only one well, millions of gallons of water are used for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the process that has helped reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil over the past five years by cracking rock deep underground to release oil and gas.
In Irion County, where Apache is drilling dozens of Wolfcamp...
Wyoming Court Hears Fracking Chemical Disclosure Case
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 21st, 2013
Associated Press: The state Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday over whether a trade secrets exemption in Wyoming's public records law may be invoked to shield from disclosure many of the chemicals the petroleum industry uses in hydraulic fracturing.
The landowner group Powder River Basin Resource Council and environmentalists including the Wyoming Outdoor Council argued that individual ingredients in the various chemical products used during hydraulic fracturing can't be considered trade secrets. Therefore,...
Great Lakes Recover Substantial Water Levels
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 21st, 2013
New York Times: Water levels in the Great Lakes, which reached historic lows earlier this year, have recovered substantially because of heavy snowfall and spring rains, government scientists said. Lakes Michigan and Huron saw a 20-inch rise this year—nearly twice the normal amount, said Keith Kompoltowicz, who monitors the lakes for the Army Corps of Engineers. Levels remain below long-term averages in some of the lakes, and it is hard to predict whether the gains will hold, said Drew Gronewold, a hydrologist with...
Europol: Environmental crime is ‘under-reported and under-investigated’
Posted by BusinessGreen: None Given on November 21st, 2013
BusinessGreen: Environmental crimes are posing a major threat to the health of European citizens, damaging key industries, and undermining the EU's free trade regime, according to a new study from the Europol agency.
The international policing body this week released a new Threat Assessment on Environmental Crime in the EU, which concluded that environmental crimes, such as trafficking in illegal waste and endangered species, are commonly under-reported and require a more co-ordinated response.
The report...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Europol: Environmental crime is ‘under-reported and under-investigated’